Ozone generator



June 30, 1942. H. B. HARTMAN OZONE GENERATOR 'Filed sept. 5o, 1959 /fff/l 1M Amt Alun glu/uvm I HB. Hal-Vilain Patented June 30, 1942 OZONEGENERATOR Harry Buxton Hartman, Florence, Mass.

Application September 30, 1939, Serial No. 297,399

2 Claims.

This invention relates to ozone generators and is a continuation in partof my application, Serial No. 74,987 filed April 17, 1936, now PatentNumber 2,205,831 patented June 25, 1940.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a novel, highly eiicientozonizing unit. That is to say, it is proposed to provide a gas-lilledtube whose exterior surface is only partially covered with an externalgrid, thereby obtaining greater generating eiciency and longer life ofthe apparatus. It has been determined by experiment and practice that aperforated metal envelope or a gauze wire completely encircling agas-filled tube causes excessive heating of the tube with consequentrapid deterioration of both the tube and gauze. However, thisdisadvantage is overcome by the present invention because practically noheat is developed due to the fact that a portion of the surface of thetube is not covered by the grid and therefore the entire tube remainsrelatively cool.

Another object of the invention is to provide'a tube having a pluralityof legs which may be individually provided with gauze tubes or mantlesin such a way that a given tube may be caused to produce a quantity ofVozone in proportion to the number of mantles. That is to say, it isproposed to provide a grid like mantle which is of substantiallycylindrical form and open at one side so as to be pressed over aselected leg of the tube and held thereto by suitable clamps if desired,or by lacing the free edges of the mantle together with a strand of thesame material as the mantle itself. If, for example, the tube has fourlegs and the capacity of the apparatus requires the production of ozonein a quantity produced by the operation of four mantles, all may beused. On the other hand, if it is desired to produce ozone through theuse of only one mantle, the remaining mantles may be readily detached bysimply removing the clamps and pulling the mantles from the other legsof the tube. It will, of course, be understood that the individualmantles may be electrically connected when used in multiple so as toassure the proper feeding of current thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a grid or mantleconstruction wherein the mantles intended for each tube are connected bya meshed web so as to provide in eifect a continuous grid ofconsiderable area.

With the above and other objects in View which will more readily appearas the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the novel construction, combination and arrangement of partshereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference denotecorresponding parts in the `diferent views:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a tube equipped with an individual gridor mantle.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the mantle or grid shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective View of one of the clamps or clips which maybe used for holding the grid or mantle to a leg of the tube.

Figure 4 is an elevation illustrating a portion of the tube shown inFig. l and a continuous type of mantle.

Figure 5 is an enlarged horizontal cross-section taken on the line 5-5of Fig. 4.

Figure 6 is a detail side elevation of the upper portion of one of theends of the continuous mantle or grid shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several gures of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, it will be observed that the ozonizing unitpreferably consists of a tube designated generally as A of glass orother suitable dielectric material which is bent to provide a pluralityof legs I, 2, 3 and d, connected together at their tops and bottoms byintermediate U-shaped portions. The legs I, 2, 3 and 4 are preferablydisposed in parallel spaced apart relationship in a common plane and thelower ends of the legs I and 4 are closed and provided with suitableelectrodes Ia and da. It will, of course, be understood after the tubehas been evacuated of air it is filled with a rare gas or blend of gaseshaving low electrical resistance, such for example, as neon, argon,mercury or the like. To adapt the tube A to be mounted on a support,such as the support 5, the lower end portions of the outermost legs Iand 4 are equipped with metal terminal pieces enabling them to be fittedin the terminal cups 6 and 1 carrie-d by the support 5.

As shown in Fig. 1, the leg 3 of the tube A may be provided with amantle or grid designated generally as B and shown in detail in Fig. 2.This mantle consists of a sheet of flexible woven wire cloth 8 which isformed, preferably, from stainless steel, aluminum or the like, andwhich may be aptly described as comprising a series of interlacedstrands forming a mesh of Suitable size. The mantle or grid thus formedis bent into substantially cylindrical shape having the free edges Bland B2 which may be forced apart as the mantle is applied. While theremay be sufficient resiliency in the grid to enable the same tofrictionally hold itself to the tube, nevertheless, it is preferred topositively clamp or secure the grid to the leg of the tube through theuse of any suitable expedient, such for example, as the spring clamp orclip C shown in Fig,V 3. These clips are merely pieces of at springmetal having resilient arms which may be pressed over the mesh in such away as to cause it eiectually to contract and engage the tube. Clips maybe used at the top, bottom and intermediate portions of the mesh grid ormantle,

which may be used individually Yor in multiple when properly connected.In other words, a

single mantle may be placed on`one of the legs,

or if all of the legs are provided with lindividual mantles any one ormore of them may be removed by simply removing the spring clamps C andpulling the mantle or grid away from the tube so that the tube will passthrough the free edges of the mantle when the latter is pulled awaytherefrom. It will, of course, be understood that if the laced strandtype of holding means is used it will be necessary to cut the strandsbefore the mantle can be removed.

The advantage of using individual mantles is, as previously indicated,to control the amount of ozone generated by the tube. That is to say, atube of standard design, Yfor example, of the type shown in Fig. 1 maybe used for all types of installations, but only a sufcient number ofmantles or grids are used to obtain the required ozone capacity for themachine. In this way, a single rheostat can be used for any type ofinstallation. Even thoughl a single rheostat is employed for a singlemantle, too much ozone cannot be generated for a given machine. On theother hand, even though more than one mantle is used, a single rheostatwill be suicient to control the current to the mantles but aproportionally greater quantity of ozone will be produced. Therefore,the feature of providing individual grids or .mantles has advantagesfrom the standpoint of manufacture, as well as economy of installation.I

According to the construction shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the mantle orgrid consists of a sheet of exible woven wire cloth 9 which is alsopreferably formed from stainless steel, aluminum or the like, andpreferably comprises a series of interlaced, vertically disposed coilssimilar to coil springs. At points spaced across this sheet, extra coilslil are interlaced with the coils of the sheet to provide what may betermed aps, and in these coils or flaps, and also in the two terminal oroutermost coils of the sheet are inserted wires or rods Il which, attheir ends, are provided with the eyes I2. In Fig. 4 there are eight ofthe rods Il comprising four pairs related to the legs la, 2a, 3a and .daof the tube A, respectively, and the spacing of the flaps or coils I issuch that between each pair of the rods Il there is a section of themesh 9 of a width to extend approximately one-half the way around therelated leg of the tube A. Small coil springs I3 connect the eyes I2 ofthe respective pairs of wires or rods Il and extend across the sides ofthe tube legs opposite the sides thereof against which the mesh sheet 9is disposed, thereby functioning to draw the respective sections of saidmesh sheet into engagement with and approximatelyv one-half the wayaround the related tube legs and thus hold the sheet 9 operativelyengaging with said tube legs, as will be apparent from Fig. 5. The tubeshown in Fig. may be mounted on the support 5 in the same manner as thetube A in Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be observed that the transformer T may bemounted in any suitable relation to the support 5. One of the outputterminals of this transformer is connected with the mantle B at itslower edge and the other of said output terminals is connected with theterminal cups 6 and 1 through suitable conductor screws or theirequivalent.

When high voltage current is supplied through the transformer T to thetube A and the mantle B, it is conducted throughout the length of said.tube by the low resistance gas or gases contained therein, and,by'induction, passes from the tube through the latter to the mantle Bcreating an ozone corona discharge which is accelerated by what may betermed an electrical breeze which is produced by reason of the wovenwire mantle being spaced substantially entirely outwardly from the tubelegs. In other Words, there is only point to point contact between eachtube and the portions of the mesh like grid or mantle, all of theremaining portions of said mantle being spaced outwardly from the tube.Therefore, there is an ozone generating corona' discharge between theouter face of the tube and the receding or more remote portions of eachstrand of the mantle elements, and, because of the electrical breezebetween the tubes and the outer portions of the coil elements, not onlyis the generation of ozone accelerated, but the ozone produced isdelivered outwardly into the air surrounding the tube. In thisconnection, experiments have shown that, as compared with tube legscompletely encased by a metal Woven fabric, the output of ozone, otherfactors being equal, by the present generator is considerably greater,due, no doubt, to the mantle extending only partially around the tubeleg, whereby both the tubes and the mantle remain relatively cool; andalso to the points of contact between the strands of the sheet and thetubes, and the spacing of the major portions of the strands from thetubes.

I claim:

1. In an ozone generator, a tube of dielectric material containing a gasof low electrical resistance, and a mantle for avoiding the generationand concentration of excessive heat tending to destroy the tube andmantle, said mantle comprising an elongated resilient body of woven wiremesh formed into arcuate cross-sectional shape and fitted laterally inembracing relation to substantially one-half of the circumference ofsaid tube, thereby leaving the portion of the tube opposite thatembraced by the mantle exposed to the cooling effect of circulating air,and high voltage electric ccnductors connected respectively to saidmantle and ends of said tube.

2. In an ozone generator, a' tube of dielectric material containing agas of low electrical resistance, and a mantle for avoiding thegeneration and concentration of excessive heat tending to destroy thetube and mantle, said mantle comprising a trough-like body of relativelyloosely woven wire mesh fitted to substantially one-half of thecircumference of the tube, thereby leaving the other half of said tubeexposed to the cooling eiect` of circulating air, rods threaded throughthe opposite longitudinal edges of the mesh, and elastic elementsconnecting the adjacent ends of the rods and extending across theexposed face of the tube to draw the mantle to the tube. Y

HARRY BUXTON HARTMAN.

